Heart's Blood
by My-Crazy-Awesome-Sox
Summary: Sometimes death isn't met with fear and anger, even if it has a right to be. Character death.


**A/N:** Soooo, here's another one. It's short...and tragic...and hopefully it doesn't suck. But it's something! Feels good to be writing again.

* * *

It came out of nowhere. She'd been good. She'd been _fine_. Until she wasn't. She'd been focusing on her targets, Daniel was supposed to be covering her.

It wasn't until the firefight was over that he realized something was wrong. The area had gone quiet, finally, and his eyes darted around checking all positions that could have been hiding stragglers. Finding none, he stood slowly, calling out a clear signal to the rest of SG-1 and SG-8 who'd been here with them, along with a med team, to help an allied planet after a natural disaster. "Jefferies," Jack called out to the commander of SG-8, "report."

"Santos thinks he may have fractured his arm, Sir. And Kennedy went and sprained his ankle, but other than that it's just bumps and bruises." Lt. Colonel Jefferies called back wiping blood away from a cut on his own cheek.

Jack nodded and then looked around for his second for her report. When he didn't see her, he called out, "Carter," but no answer came. He saw Teal'c scan the battle ground with him before his body went still.

"O'Neill," came his friend's deep voice, "quickly," he walked toward whatever it was he saw, knowing Jack would follow him.

Jack's chest tightened at the implication. "Jefferies! Get the Doc." He called urgently over his shoulder before rushing after Teal'c. When he came around a bolder he saw Teal'c shaking Daniel awake. He came around slowly, blinking hard a couple of times before looking up at Jack crouched next to him. "Daniel, where's Carter?" The scientist looked confused for a moment and looked around him like he was surprised she wasn't there.

"She hasn't checked in yet?" He sat up and groaned a little as he rubbed the back of his head.

"I wouldn't be asking if she did, Daniel. Now where is she?" Maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh with him, but every second he didn't hear from his second, his worry grew.

"She was behind the next boulder over." Daniel supplied.

Jack was up immediately, rounding the rock before stopping dead in his tracks. She was on the ground. She wasn't moving. There was a lot of blood. A jaffa was a few feet away, throat slit. Her K-bar knife was between them. As if someone had just thrown a movie into fast forward, he was suddenly next to her, kicking the jaffa out of the way. Dropping to his knees he felt for a pulse, letting out a breath when he found one, albite a weak one. He placed a hand on her cheek and slapped lightly. "Carter. Come on Carter, wakie wakie." She stirred slowly before whimpering and dragging her left arm to her side. That's when Jack saw how much blood was still coming out of her. His jaw tightened and his voice became a bit more urgent. "Come on Carter, look at me. You need to wake up now." Her eyes blinked a bit and her head rolled towards his voice.

"Colonel!" Came a voice from behind him.

Jack turned. "Doc! Over here!" He focused back on Sam to see her focusing on him a bit better. "Hey, there you are," he smiled at her. He flicked his eyes at Fraser as she threw herself into her work, opening the majors flak jacket and pulling up her sopping black shirt. He really did not like what he saw. "What the hell happened, Carter?"

He saw her grimace at the doctor's touch, she almost looked like she was fighting the urge to be sick from the pain. "He knocked out Daniel, Sir." Her voice was strained and quiet, it was obviously taking a lot to talk. "M-My gun jammed...had to go hand to hand. He got hold of my knife...hand and used it on me...thought I was done, but...I pulled it out and slit his throat…" Sweat was breaking out on her forehead. The Doc made a particularly painful movement and Carter nearly arched off the ground in pain, only serving to make it worse, and clutched at him. He caught her hand in his and squeezed. "It's alright, Carter, I've got you."

"Sir...I...I can't f-feel my legs…" Her voice was starting to come out as a whisper. Jack sucked in a breath and flicked his eyes over to Fraser. Her hands were covered with Sam's blood. Her face was grim and she met his eyes with a shake of her head. She didn't know if she'd be able to fix this one. Jack's heart nearly stopped. Sam tried to lift her head. "Wh-What…?"

Jack reached up and encouraged her head back down to the ground with a hand on her cheek. He pulled her to look at him and didn't let go. "Don't worry about it Carter, the Doc'll take care of you." He tried to smile at her, but her lips were already showing a blue tinge.

Her breath was getting a little unsteady. She smirked a little. "You're a bad liar, Sir."

He kept his voice light. "My special ops days say different."

"B-Been a long time since you were in...special ops...Sir."

"Yeah, well, maybe you're just the best 2IC ever and you can read me even when I don't want you to." It was taking a herculean effort for his voice not to shake as he felt her fingertips getting just a bit colder and her crystal eyes start to lose focus. "Carter! Carter, you gotta stay with me ok?" She blinked hard and gave a small nod. He flicked his eyes to Fraser again. Her face had gone from grim to nearly heartbroken. Carter had stopped grimacing in pain whenever the doctor touched her. Jack locked his coffee eyes with Carter's once again and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"'S'ok, Sir, I know...that it's really bad…"

Jack scoffed. "Nothing the Doc can't handle Carter. Though you may be sticking to the labs after this one." Her eyes were entirely too grim. There were very few things worse than watching someone prepare to die. "Hey, Carter," his tone was still light, but much softer than before, "I know this girl, might be getting a medical discharge. Been thinking I might ask her out. You think I should?" He saw Jefferies, who'd been standing off to his left in his view, shift at the comment. Well fuck him, she needed this. _He_ needed this.

Carter was smiling. It was hardly as luminescent as it should be, but at least her eyes didn't look haunted anymore. "Yeah...Sir...I think you should."

"I was thinking I'd take her out for coffee or something. She likes coffee." He stroked her pale cheek with his thumb.

Sam made a sound that might have been a snort. "Better...b-be at least...dinner…"

He grinned. "You don't think that's going too fast? I don't want to scare her off, you know."

"J-Just don' barbecue...and you'll be...fine…" Her breathing faltered and Jack faught to keep his eyes on her face rather than watching her chest rise and fall with the breaths...just to be sure they were still coming.

"Alright. Somewhere nice then. She could even wear a dress or something." Her grip on his hand was getting weaker and he squeezed harder to compensate.

She smiled and closed her eyes lightly, as if trying to picture it. "I like dressing up…"

God, her voice was getting so thready. "I know, Carter. You keep wearing skirts when we hang out on down time. Who're you trina impress anyway, huh?" He didn't get a response and his heart couldn't decide if it wanted to stop or beat out of his chest. He shook her gently with the hand that hadn't left her cheek until she opened her eyes. He wasn't even sure if she knew where she was anymore. He swallowed thickly, and for the first time he couldn't stop his voice from shaking. "Hey, Carter," he brought the hand he was holding up to his face so he could feel her skin against his cheek, "You think the first date is too soon to say 'I love you'?" He was almost whispering and he could hear a few intakes of breath from those close enough to hear.

She just looked at him for a few moments, her eyes clearing just a little as they held his. She moved her thumb back and forth on his slightly rough cheek and she smiled at him like an angel. "I love you too, Jack…"

He gave a wet chuckle and kissed her palm before putting it back against his cheek. "Good, I'm glad. It would've been awful awkward, me saying all this stuff, and you thinking I was talking about someone else after all."

"I don't...regret...anything...Jack." God she was the one dying and here she was trying to comfort _him_.

"Nothing. Not one thing. I got to spend almost seven years with you by my side, Sam. How could I regret that?" He was getting desperate. He saw she was fading. Janet had stopped working. She sat, bloody hands in her lap, facing away from them, giving them a bit of privacy if she couldn't give them anything else. He saw her wiping tears from her face with her shoulder out of the corner of his eye.

Her eyes were closed again, but the angelic smile was still in place. "I like it...when you call me Sam..." her voice was barely there anymore.

He leaned down, putting his face cheek to cheek with hers, his hand sliding hers down to his neck. "I'll say it as many times as you want me to, Sam." He waited, but she didn't respond. "Sam?" He lifted his head and hers rolled to the side, unsupported. He moved his thumb in front of her lips, but there was no puff of air to warm it. Tears began to escape his shell now that he didn't have to pretend she was going to be ok. He placed her hand by her side and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I love you, Sam," he whispered for her alone. It wasn't long before he rose unsteadily from his position and let Teal'c handle her body. It would be a long walk back to the gate. He wasn't sure if he'd ever truly leave that spot. The spot he'd felt the purest joy and the purest pain all within a couple of minutes of each other. The spot where the rest of his heart had died.


End file.
